Saturday, May 12, 2018

Alter-Nations: A middle course

"But but but!" I hear you stammer. Yes. In the vignette we see what kinda look like French line battalions advancing on some vaguely Prussian troops while two squadrons of Hussars (is that the seventh?) charge in from the left.

"But those FLAGS!?" you finally blurt out amidst your apoplexy. Exactly! The flags.

Most "historical" miniature war gamers will tell you there are two types of game, those being Historical and Imagi-Nation. Of course Historical is just that. A player controls the exact French, Brittish and Native units present on the Plains of Abraham on 13 September 1759 and re-fights the battle.

An Imagi-Nations miniatures wargame is a very different beast. Typically fictitious battles are fought over fictitious maps by nations named for OTC cold medications. Hey, are those Orks? Two extremes and both are fun as heck. Most every one of us are most comfortable somewhere in the middle.

I'm a gamer. I enjoy miniatures games - and when I can locate an opponent they're even more fun! But I also restore houses, practice bushcraft, noodle on the ukulele, play with micro-controllers and model trains... you get the idea. I enjoy miniature wargames but like most, I got other stuff on the to-do list. Personally, I've found that the effort required to create a proper Imagi-Nations world - like the effort required to get each and every blob of paint exactly correct on each and every exact casting takes more time than I can realistically devote to one of my many pursuits.

My simple solution? Get the flags wrong. It's really all down-hill from there! Once the flag is wrong, the fact that my Prussian Cuirassiers are sporting an 1806 uniform at Waterloo or that the Grande Armée's 64th Line Infantry Regiment has the wrong number of battalions is beside the point. This is Alter-Nation, my own personal get-out-of-jail-free card. IMHO I believe there are many Historical wargamers out there who are comfortable with somewhat less than absolute accuracy. You know who you are. Welcome to the club! :D